Frieze London 2021: Artists to Watch

Deborah Roberts

Deborah Roberts reflects on the complexities of race, identity and gender politics with her collage and mixed media artworks. By overlapping facial features, skin tones, hairstyles and clothing items, Roberts literally pieces together the expectations, preconceived social constructs and impact of the white gaze on the identities of young black children. These artworks, in their emphasis of disconnected appearances, outline the varied and multi-faceted realities of the black community. When discussing her work, Roberts has said: ‘With collage, I can create a more expansive and inclusive view of the black cultural experience.’

Deborah Roberts will be presenting her work as a solo presentation at Stephen Friedman Gallery’s Frieze London booth (C10).

Image: Deborah Roberts, Laying my burdens down, 2021. Mixed media collage on canvas, 177.8 x 177.8cm (70 x 70in). Copyright Deborah Roberts. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Paul Bardargjy.

Tatiana Wolska

Polish-born artist Tatiana Wolska is known for transforming recycled items like plastic bottles into ‘sprawling biomorphic forms’, creating art that – when placed outside the gallery in urban settings – reminds those passing by of the wasteful consumption patterns that contribute to environmental catastrophe. Simple materials are made into something new and beautiful, making a poetic yet critical statement on our perception of an object’s life span. Wolska’s work is prominent in the here and now, as a consumer-based society struggling to stop the growing climate crisis.

Tatiana Wolska is currently exhibiting her work in Frieze Sculpture, located in the English Gardens of Regent’s Park.

Image: Tatiana Wolska, Untitled (module 1 and 2), 2019, presented by L’Etrangere, Irene Laub Gallery. Frieze Sculpture Park, Regent’s Park, London. Courtesy of Frieze. Photo by Linda Nylind.

Garrett Bradley

Working across narrative, documentary and experimental modes of filmmaking, American artist Garrett Bradley explores the themes of race, class, familial relationships, social justice and cultural histories in the United States. Her work, which features dream-like scenes and settings, criss-crossing and missing timelines and uplifting representations of Black bodies and minds, has seen her awarded the Best Director at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival – the first black female director to do so.

Garrett Bradley will present her film AKA in London for the first time, as a solo presentation at Lisson Gallery’s Frieze London booth (B02).

Image: Garrett Bradley, America 1924 (2019, film still), Multi-channel video installation, 35mm film transferred to HD video (black and white, 5.1 sound), 23 minutes 55 seconds © Garrett Bradley, courtesy Lisson Gallery

Alberta Whittle

Last year’s recipient of the Frieze Artist Award, Alberta Whittle, offers a multi-disciplinary practice that looks into the manifestation of self-compassion and collective care as a means of battling anti-blackness. The Barbadian-Scottish artist, researcher and curator has been known to present works that are both sensitive in their message and full of cutting humour. With the Margaret Tait Award and a Turner Prize bursary under her belt, it’s safe to say that we should be keeping an eye Whittle as her practice continues to grow. Look out for Whittle in the 2022 instalment of the Venice Biennale, where she will be representing Scotland.

You can see Alberta Whittle’s work in Frieze Focus (booth H28), where she will be exhibiting with Copperfield Gallery.

Image: Alberta Whittle, Celestial Meditations V, 2018. C-type print, 91.4 x 129.1 cm. Courtesy of the artist & Copperfield, London

Nora Turato

Sung Tieu

This year’s Frieze Artist Award went to Sung Tieu, an emerging artist whose selected film will premiere during Frieze Week London. With work spanning installation, sound, video, text, sculpture, photography, performance and public intervention, Tieu explores her own experiences of cultural collision and displacement to investigate the art historical legacies of late Modernism. However, since 2016, Tieu has used her artistic platform to examine psychological and bureaucratic warfare – where the legacy of the Cold War continues to impact our everyday lives. Her film, Moving Shadow Detection (2021), is a reflection on the psychological dimension of warfare, acoustic weaponry and its relationship to Cold War ideologies, with reference to the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana (from which a set of medical disorders collectively termed ‘Havana Syndrome’ owes its name).

Sung Tieu will be exhibiting her work in Frieze Focus (booth H9), with Emalin.

Image: Sung Tieu, Filling Gaps (2021). Tampons from VEB Vliestextilien Lößnitztal, polished stainless steel tube, 2.5 x 120 x 2.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Emalin, London and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg. Photography: Hans-Georg Gaul